FAN ARTICLES
Knowsley Everton
Comments (72) : On arrival, we booked a couple of rooms in a motel and headed to Tootsie's Orchid lounge (where Hank Williams Sr used to bevvy). In there, after a few beers, we got talking to a couple of local fellers ("Y'all from Englan?") one of whom asked "Y'all wanna go to a tiddy bar?"...
Erm... yes, we did.
Before we went to the Pink Pussycat (or whatever) one of these fellers said we need to get some 'liquor' first. When we asked why we couldn't just get bevvy in the 'tiddy bar', he said "Well they're only allowed to sell ice. Tennessee State law says they cain't sell liquor..." etc blah.
When we arrived at the place it was HUUUUUUGE (like the size of a French supermarket). However, to get in, you bought your ticket from a feller sitting in a pick-up truck outside the entrance (not at the front door). When I asked what was going on, one of our new mates said "Tennessee State law says you can't sell a ticket on the premises if there is alcohol being imbaaahbed, on a Wednesday...." etc... more blah.
Once inside, I remember saying to these lads "Tennessee seems to have a lot of State laws". What they said stuck with me:
"If you took awwwl the legislation that has been introduced slowly over the last 10 years, and introduced it awl on one day - this country would just be one smoking hole. The military and the national guard wouldn't be able to do a god-dammned thang."
He continued "But those fucks are sneaky motherfuckers, they change everything so you don't notice, then by the taahm you do, it's too late.......Hey, y'all like Kristofferson?"
This has (as you can see) stayed with me and it's something I've thought of a lot re Kirkby...
In the past, arguing against the move, I've suggested worst case scenarios (coz... that's the best way to argue). I remember saying was that it was possible (didn't say probable — just possible) that five or ten years after being in Kirkby, a Knowsley counciller (trying to look busy) might say... "Name change - 'The Everton K Blues'....let's see a show of hands". Many told me this was ludicrous scaremongering and could never happen
When I replied "Yeah well tell that to Wimbledon", the response was that comparing the two moves/name-changes was unfair, as the distances of the moves were not comparable.
Well, I still think this distances thing is bollocks and think that although Everton are/were not daft enough to have said, all on the same day, "We're going to move out of the city, sell Wayne Rooney, have an away shirt with a pink badge and call ourselves Knowsley Everton", believing it's not possible is naive in the extreme.
The fact is, the longer 'Everton FC' are in Kirkby, the easier it'll become for them to end up called... something else. Fortunately for me, I'm a fat 50-year-old smoker... so with any luck, I'll be dead.
However, it's the living Evertonians I worry about.
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Luckily, that doesn’t apply here where, for example, we have a health care system which provides an excellent service for more people than there are without any health insurance in the USA. That’s because we have the vote and use it.
Similarly, if Knowsley council ever, for reasons best known to its electors, became a major shareholder in the private company that is Everton FC, some official or other might write a memo about a name change to the effect that you are suggesting. Can’t, and never will, happen.
Oh - and pink badges. For chrissakes, the’ll have players with long hair next.
Because he would never lie to us... would he?
What you describe is legislative creep... and goes on all the time. The powers that be will only attempt to get away with what they think they can get away with.
Everton have been given a mandate for the most controversial of changes... anything else they want to do will be small change...
The proposed name is Greater Liverpool, would that mean that DK would then be in ’our city’? Or what do you define as ’our city’ — if you’re born within earshot of St Nicks?? As I’ve stated before on TW, Kirkby is historically, culturally & spiritually Liverpool — you should take a look for yourself, the place is overrun with scousers.
It may be full of scousers but was a new town created for 40,000 residents and is over 8 miles out of the City and very difficult to get to except by car (or bike!!).
By comparison, Liverpool has an infrastructure to support the movement and/or entertainment of over a million people. How the hell can you possibly compare Kirkby with that — scousers or no scousers?!?
If it was easy to get to, EFC wouldn't be having such problems with their transport plan. So you think it would be easy for 40,000 people to get to every matchday do you?
I really don't see the relevance of the Domesday book!!
You are confusing the notion of a ’Liverpool City Region.’
There are no proposed ’boundary changes.’ And Kirkby will not be ’incorporated’ into Liverpool.
I for one don’t give a hoot about location because I’m not a local (EJ might — but that’s a different matter).
My concern is the way in which the whole process has been conducted, the people involved and the shenanigans involved in securing the move. In light of this, the main premise of the article is the potential for future liberties to be taken...
Personally I think it’s done and dusted.
One of these fellers we met had the same surname as you.
However he had it as his Christian name!
(or to be completely accurate, his right-wing fundamentalist Christian name).
It may be full of scousers but was a new town created for 40,000 residents and is over 8 miles out of the City and very difficult to get to except by car (or bike!!).
By comparison, Liverpool has an infrastructure to support the movement and/or entertainment of over a million people. How the hell can you possibly compare Kirkby with that — scousers or no scousers?!? ’
Jay, I have driven to the site (in fact, look it up on Google maps — it's actually called ’Kirkby Stadium’ — if that's not an indication of a done deal... then nothing is! ha!).
It is difficult to get too. East Lancs... past Car Craft, then left on M57 one junction... Valley Road... stadium built here.
Valley Road is a dual carriage way with a small housing estate and several sets of traffic lights. It can't handle traffic any more than County Road can (and we all know what that is like on match day).
Sure, buses go to Kirkby... but so what? Buses go to Goodison and its still grid-locked.
The new site is a bit disastrous and is in need of a severe project plan if it is to go ahead because — and I say this with baited breath — if we are to miraculously increase our gate receipts by 10,000, then that's a further 10,000 that those routes to Kirkby have to cater for.
My opinion is that its going to be very difficult and it's also going to put the ’occasionals’ off from coming. Let's face it, who wants to come and watch Everton vs Fulham on a Sunday (at the best of times) and be faced with a journey to Kirkby?
I have a season ritual of first home game... straight out into town with the lads. Last home game — straight out into town with the lads. Derby days... straight out into town with the lads (you get the picture). This is going to be increasingly difficult too.
I just hope we don't end up like Boro — expansive, lovely, comfortable stadium — no-one willing to fill it.
To be pedantic, if you haven’t been born within the boundaries of Liverpool, technically you are not a scouser.
ps: I mean played, sorry.
My concern is also the way in which the move to Kirkby has been conducted. It's all very underhand and hush hush. The willingness (or lack of) to look at alternatives makes a mockery of the fans who are generally desperate to find a fresh option.
Legislative creep (you really do have a name for everything) or Everton ’we’ll do what we want’ creep is unavoidable. The board will slowly but surely add in all the little extras to make that move happen.
Last Shareholders Forum, BK wouldn’t even entertain a conversation regarding alternatives — just wanted to express his views on the ’only’ option.
Seems we, at Everton, are always limited in our options... investors, stadiums, funds, etc.
By the way — Google maps, search for ’Everton Kirkby project’ — brilliant!
Objective and subjective information has produced a rich, if perhaps unwelcome and unwanted dichotomy amongst the fanbase. Who’s right and who’s wrong? I think we’d all admit it would take a brave man or woman to attempt to give the definitive answer but some things are indisputable; like using the recognised method of measuring from Liverpool’s town hall to Kirkby’s equivalent in their town centre, the distance is, as confirmed by the RAC, 8.9 miles.
Kirkby isn’t, has never been and will never be in the City of Liverpool. My own view, for what it’s worth, is that it doesn’t matter one iota if it’s inside, outside, above or beneath the city boundary because at 9 miles from the city, the location simply isn’t designed to handle the controlled movement of the expected mass of fans and this glaring fault in the planning application was exposed to such an extent at the public inquiry that the applicants expert was sent away to recalculate his figures and returned only to be ridiculed again when they were exposed for what they were again.
You simply can’t get a quart into a pint pot and promises of jam tomorrow and “works in progress” are not given any weight by the planning inspectors, they examine what is in the application, nothing more, nothing less.
It’s a given that Everton need to increase their revenue streams, nobody can argue against this, but Kirkby was pursued because it was the Deal of the Century, it was effectively free and we were to receive £50m from our partners towards the cost of building the stadium.
Well here we are, years later and about to hear the decision from the Secretary of State and what do we know? We know it isn’t effectively free, we know there isn’t a £50m contribution towards the stadium and we know that we haven’t got a single penny from the proposed plan to raise our contribution (also known as the total cost of the stadium) despite there now being a condition attached which stipulates that Everton must demonstrate that they have the funding in place before any construction can begin.
We also know that all the clubs we compete with in the Premier League already have or have plans to build city based super stadia.
Thanks Bill; your dream is slowly becoming our nightmare.
You state that Kirkby is 8 miles outside of Liverpool, yet on the RAC website when you got from Lime Street station, L1 1JD to Kirkby (ironically enough I typed in Kirkby, Liverpool and it worked fine) is states a total travelling distance (not as the crow flies so the mileage would be reduced) is 9.12 miles, so for it to be 8 miles outside of the city it would mean that after a mile radius outside of the city centre Liverpool, as a city, ends.
That would then mean that Goodison would be 1.84 miles outside of Liverpool (2.84 from Lime Street) and I am a whopping 3.63 miles out of Liverpool, even though I live in Walton.
Using the figures above and actually going on the assumption that Walton is still actually part of Liverpool, even if the boundary ended at Walton Vale....which it doesn’t, Kirkby would be no more than 4.49 miles outside of Liverpool, however we do know that the city boundary extends way past Walton Vale and past Fazerkerley, which is just down the road from Kirkby.
Pedantic and nit picking, you betcha but I feel it needed to be pointed out.
Would we really be bothered if the new stadium were outside the City of Liverpool (however defined) if it were going to be an affordable, well situated, attractive, accessible stadium with good transport links, and likely to generate very significant additional revenue?
Would we really be happy with a stadium that was inside the City of Liverpool (however defined) but unaffordable, poorly situated, unattractive, stadium with bad transprt links, that was not likely to generate additional revenue?
The answers to those questions indicate me that the key issue is not the boundaries of the City of Liverpool. Obviously ideally any new stadium would be as central as possible, but many teams have to move outside the central city and flourish. The key stuff is all about accessibility and income. Location is only a part of accessibility — the less central you are, the better the transport infrastructure has to be.
And by those measures of accessibility and income, from what I can see Kirkby is a massive disaster waiting to happen, whether it’s in Liverpool or not.
I don’t think I’ll be bothering.
I think most people got that I meant from the City centre which I feel is most relevant because a lot of our fans either walk or get cabs or trains from around the Lime Street Station area to the ground which as you rightly point out is less than 3 miles whereas Kirkby is over 8 miles.
City boundaries may change at any time but the distance from Lime Street will remain constant and to me seems a fair comparison.
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Would you have preffered season ticket holders / members etc not to have been balloted?
As it stood the ballot was void in my opinion.
IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BOUNDARIES FOR COUNCILS OR THE COLOURS OF YOUR WHEELIE BIN
It is because it is in a small town with inadequate roads, rail links and that town is to the Northern extreme of Merseyside meaning nearly all fans will have to approach in basically the same way from the South. It is 9 miles from the City CENTRE and no other major Club in any large UK city is that far from the city centre.
The links are inadequate and the Club have been so unable to prove otherwise that as it stands the capacity will have to be restricted to 40,000 — ie 200 less than Goodison!
Can’t see much financial gain in that.
This is all before we get down to the crap design, who will rake off what by moving, loss of tradition et, etc
I just hope that is clear for anybody who is unsure.
Aaaaages ago, Christine Foster wrote..
"...Great Homer Street, Scotland Road, Kirkdale, the Valley — all linked to the tribal district of our club. So to me it's more personal than even just being in Liverpool. It’s a part of Liverpool that belongs to Everton, and Everton belong to that area".
In supporting the idea of Keeping EIOC, that’s as specific as I feel I need to be and I don’t give a flip if that’s all emotion and no logic. (It helps knowing that as soon as they have to discuss the Kirkby travel ’plan’, the Mr Logics, who attempt to justify the move, immediately come across as flakes, prone to wild, insane flights-of-fancy.)
the name of Glazzard is an ancient and honourable one. It came to the place we now call England about 900 years ago, from Normandy. Jimmy Glazzard, signed from Huddersfield, as the leading goal scorer in the first division, in 1956 could have been an Everton legend but for a broken leg after three games.
If your redneck pals have taken my family’s name for their own purposes that is beyond my control. Britney Spears claims to be a descendent of William Shakesperare. And she does have a case.
But back to the point - the naming of Everton Football Club has got nothing to do with anyone except the owners of EFC. They never, ever, had to ask anybody about where they conducted their business. And the only thing we can be sure about is that they will never do it again.
It’s all very clear now, after all the facts that have come out, we are being dragged by our heels to form a new shopping centre in Kirkby. All for the benefit of Earl, Green and Leahy. Well It’s certainly not for our benefit is it?
Yet there’s still people on here who try to justify it. God help us.
The owners of the club want to move; if you don’t like it — tough. All this crap about thousands staying away makes me laugh — you support an insitution, a football club, not a stadium.
The support for the club will at the least remain stable and most probably grow because of the better facilities. The only reason it will fall is if the on-field performances drop (and that goes for any club).
Just a couple of points to ponder on: Transport, do you really think that Tesco are going to build one of their biggest stores in the world expecting thousands of shoppers a day and not actually do anything about the local infrastructure?
And those who can design stadiums, now’s your chance to do something useful because there’s a stadium about to built which is actually funded. You won’t be able to influence the core build but the chances are that the inside of the stadium/fitting out will be subject to changes so, if I was you, I’d put my efforts into designing the inside of the stadium and forwarding your plans to the club. My guess is that you’ll find the club will be receptive to design ideas once the planning permission is in order. If your that good at it, maybe you’ll earn a few bob out of it!!
The club is seekng to remove the link without any respect to the tradition, culture, roots or responsibility to that link. They have sought to do it for commercial reasons, all of which have been questioned and ridiculed for what they are. So much has been said, so little has been done by the club.
I hope without much conviction that the decision is against the club. I am not a luddite nor do I have any finincial reason for being against it. But, just as Everton is physical area of Liverpool, I was born in Everton, literally, so it's not just tradition, not just concrete, not just a name — it's literally in my blood.
It is tribal, and you're taking something from my village. Would you not expect me to fight? For all those gone before me; for all those that shall come.
Everton FC is NOT just a name irrespective of location, it is a home. It is a place. It is the very foundation of a city. It is me.
Your final argument about funding is another grey area, as has been blown clean out of the water during the hearings, no-one — and I repeat ad nauseum — NO-ONE is funding the new stadium beside Everton FC. And as such, how does that borrowed money differ from borrowing equal or lesser amounts to spend on an existing stadium the club already owns to provide greater capacity and better facilities with proven access and transport links?
The surrounding retail will provide the club not one penny of extra income as it doesn’t belong to the club; the promised concert venue is/was a lie; any off field activities will be curtailed as KMBC are claiming a substantial amount of free usage.
The arguments don’t stack up, Tommy; the "institution" of Everton FC has fucked me and my family off enough to mean a positive decision on Kirkby will lose the club six season tickets. It won’t stop me supporting Everton but my support will be at selected away games, paying on the gate if I have to, as not one other stadium would exclude me parking nearby with disabled passengers to go and watch the match... but Kirkby won’t get a penny off me or my family members who are season ticket holders at present.
Put simply, we’ve got to leave GP — or GP has got to be substantially re-developed. At this point, I would like to make it clear that I do not want to leave GP, but I live in the real world and realise that a decision about GP must be taken sooner rather than later.
Redevelopment of GP would be possible only if there was a substantial amount of houses cleared, probably all the streets that run down to County Road. This would cost millions and would take years and years of objections and counter-objections. If one family said no (like the old dears in Kemlyn Road), it could hold up the project for a decade.
Like a lot of posters on this website, a shared ground is a no-brainer, but it’s those emotions getting in the way of hard-headed business decisions. All other sites have pros & cons and to my mind DK is the only alternative.
I’m not singing and dancing about it, but I find some of the hostility towards it defies logic for a ground that is being moved 4.4 miles away and according to Google maps the new ground would be 7.6 miles away from Lime St Station, so when the move is sometimes compared to Wimbledon’s relocation to Milton Keynes is frankly LOL stupidity.
And as for infrastructure, that would come with the development, as it does with all new developments; and, even if there is no new infrastructure built, what there is at the moment would still compare favourably with getting in & out of GP.
To say that all the houses right down to County Rd would have to go is just plain scaremongering. Just how much room do you think we need to add 15,000 to the capacity?
The simple truth, under the law of the land, is that the owners of this private company can do whatever they want with it. They can relocate to Milton Keynes and rename their business MK Blues should they wish. I doubt that this will happen.
But if anyone thinks they have a right to determine what does happen to this club of ’ours’ without a substantial shareholding in it, they are quite simply wrong.
We can, and do, vote to get a health system free to us when we need it. But we don’t get to vote for the football club that we want.
Tesco will make some minor adjustments to the local infrastructure, but as they won’t have 50,000 people all turning up at their store at the same time & then all wanting to leave 2 hours later, their needs are substantially different to Everton’s. Therefore, the transport plan will never have the investment necessary to make it adequate for our needs.
Supporters will soon realise that the lack of obscured views means there is no need to invest in a season ticket & the appalling transport situation will mean that people will start to cherry-pick games & so average attendances will fall.
Lastly, who do you think is funding this stadium? It’s not Tesco or the Board — the cost will be borne by the club through additional debt that they’ll struggle to pay off as the necessary average attendances are not met & so, inevitably, players will have to be sold to make up the shortfall.
Life at the Kirkby white elephant will be more Championship than Champions League.
But now Kirkby is not comparable with Liverpool. It has become a haven for scroungers, unemployment... plus nobody has mentioned it would mean 31,000 fans traveling north with Fazakerley and Crocky being the main exits.
Another problem is it would all but end Everton's support in the south of the city. But another reason: there are no safe pubs for non-locals visitors, no shops (except Tesco) — it would destroy Kirkby, Walton and our club... but most importantly our support.
Well we used to say bye then. I love it when people say all kinds of shit they don't stick to, ie: Wait till the Bulger killers get out — they're dead.
And this is exactly the same, wherever Everton play you will go and watch them, and if you don't, someone else will get your seat.
I live in Fazakerley and was born in Fazak Hozy so I'm a scouser and if Everton played in Runcorn, I'd go to watch them there.
I think it's amazing how you all think you have a say... newsflash — you don't... you're nothing; just a fan like the fans from the 1900s and the fans that will be around when you're dead.
The council leader has already stated that the council would assist the club in getting the land around the club by Bullens Rd and the council has a large sum of money from central government under Building Schools for the Future grant so it could also resite the school.
Anyone viewing the site using this link will see that the ground's new footprint would be large enough for a 65,000-seater stadium.
The vote was a Yes for Kirkby, and before we start going into all the lies again, I bet who you vote for for government lies but you still vote the same crap in.
It was good of Everton to give people a vote, some people lost, get over it. I'm sure they wont ever give us a vote again, and they didn't have to.
I don't like Kirkby, it's true there's no safe pubs to drink in and I would love for them to redevelop Goodison. But I will support Everton wherever they play because my couple of grand a season doesn't even pay a reserve team player's wages so I don't get a say.
It's okay moving people you don't know, would you like to be turfed out of your house just to redevelop a football stadium? I don't think so.
Think of other people for a change, because that is one of the main gripes about Bill Kenwright on here.
Colin Potter accused me of scaremongering, and I confess I know nothing about engineering, but one of my mates when he was growing up lived by Old Trafford and according to him they bulldozed the surrounding area to redevelop the ground, apparently it’s because of the stanchions needed for the cantilever stands.
And the vote was ’yes’. You might be surprised to either learn or be reminded of this. So, as Michael points out, the fans did pitch in, and they approved of the possible move. Perhaps those ’Yes’ voters were saying what you are — Walton, Kirkby, Runcorn — it doesn’t matter. I’ll be there.
Runcorn? Now there’s an intriguing possibility, having been born in Cheshire — as the Wirral was in those days. Boundaries change, you know.
EFC is not a democracy. Never was, never will be. The fact - and it is a fact - that the owners consulted the fans - season ticket holders - is remarkable. And those that turned up to vote said yes. In a very imperfect system, that has to count for something. Decisions are made by those that turn up.
The comparison with a General Election is erroneous as in that poll you have a variety of candidates to choose from & so votes are spread amongst the various candidates — you also don’t have to be invited to have a vote. The vote on DK was by an electorate selected by the club, thereby excluding many Evertonians. It was also a single candidate election, for or against — generally not an electoral format that’s considered to be particularly democratic.
The point I was making is that, even under these circumstances & in spite of a concerted campaign to highlight the positives of the scheme, it still wasn’t possible to engender enough enthusiasm to gain support from even half of that selected electorate.
You’re quite right EFC is not a democracy, although "never was" is open to some debate, it is a business & any business that wants to make a dramatic change to what it will be offering its customers, consults with a large proportion of them & can’t get more than half of them to support the change... but presses ahead anyway, is taking an unnecessary risk, to say the least.
Or maybe someone from a 1974 ITV World Cup ’panel’
"Join us on Toffeeweb with guest Big Stevo Baines - he never pulls his punches".
I ask because you don’t actually seem to think anything through, preferring instead to just spout with the conviction of someone who is 100% right because....um..they think are.
You say...
"This reminds me of when we were kids, and one kid would say if you don’t play what I want, I’m taking my ball home. Well we used to say bye then"
Er no you didn’t, not if he DID take his ball.
You used to say ’bye then’ then..go home - game and fun over.
There’s a difference.
(plus you should keep in mind it’s a piece-of-piss to apply the ’my ball’ analogy, to a Chairman who says "It’s Kirkby and there’s no plan B")
You continue..
"I love it when people say all kinds of shit they don’t stick to, ie: Wait till the Bulger killers get out — they’re dead"
WT....Is there a point to this..um..point?
Well obviously you are, at ALL times, cool and rational - I imagine a lot like Roger Moore as James Bond.
Fact is though, many less-gifted humans, sometimes react emotionally to situations (eg: the Bulger murder), by saying things in the heat of the moment that even THEY know is hot air. It’s just venting and you really shouldn’t take them at their word (even for the sake of making a ’point’)
By the way, you don’t say how do you feel when people say ’all kinds of shit’ they DO stick to?
You continue...
"And this is exactly the same, wherever Everton play you will go and watch them, and if you don’t, someone else will get your seat"
Fact: No I won’t, nor will a lot of others. And if it’s in Kirkby, someone else can HAVE ’my’ seat.
And (c’mere) there’s more..
"I live in Fazakerley and was born in Fazak Hozy so I’m a scouser and if Everton played in Runcorn, I’d go to watch them there".
Really?
I wouldn’t, coz they wouldn’t be Everton anymore.
NOT - TO - ME.
They might (until the name was changed to Runcorn Blues) still be CALLED ’Everton’ but that for many of us wouldnt be (isn’t!) enough.
Would they still be ’Everton’ if they moved to Crewe?
Stafford?
Where (for you) would they have to move, for them NOT to be ’Everton?
Genuinely curious
I’m not asking you to agree with me or anyone else, just suggesting you try to get your napper round the notion that everyone doesn’t just say ’shit’ and go back on it.
A comment like that really does say more about you.
For many of us, it’s not enough to call something Everton, it has to BE Everton.
And if Everton move to Kirkby, for many of us, they won’t be.
Plus as my original post suggests, in time, it’s possible (NB: POSSIBLE!) they might not even be called Everton_.
If that DID happen, I would certainly NOT want to be a supporter of the team, formerly known as Everton, who play their home games in Kirkby.
Sigh - you go on.
"I think it’s amazing how you all think you have a say... newsflash — you don’t... you’re nothing; just a fan like the fans from the 1900s and the fans that will be around when you’re dead"
Wrong again (you’re fucking consistent, I’ll say that for you)
We/I/you DO have a say.
Remember Gordon Lee?
I recall screaming "Lee OUT!" and out he went.
Walter Smith? The same
Remember when Z-Car was replaced by some shite?
I remember booing and screaming "FUCK OFF WITH THAT SHITE" and that shite was fucked off.
When I voted No, I was having my say.
You may not consider yourself to have a ’say’, I DEFINITELY HAVE.
Also your ’arguments’ about grannies getting ’turfed’ out of their homes - truly laughable.
I mean is that what you’re saying would happen?
They would get ’TURFED’ out?
This honestly DID make me laugh, truly DESPERATE stuff!
Cut to ten shaven-headed loons giving it "C’mon grandma, MOVE!" as they smash a picture of her late husband on the cobbles
Sounds like granny better do as she’s told or she’ll end up in.... HOZZY!
To Eugene, well answered matey!
Well, your certainly scratching the bottom of the barrel now. Seems the answer will be with us soon so we can all move on and live with whatever it turns out to be.
No matter how many scare tactics you wish to print in these loose posts, Everton will continue and the name will stay as it is — after all, have we been called Liverpool Everton for the past 130 years? It's 3 miles down the road for god's sake, live with it!!!
I grew up next to GP and lived there until I was 19, it was a great place to live and play as a child; these days I’m afraid its not so nice and a bit of a shithole. My mother lives in fear most days and will not go out when it’s dark, she lives just streets away, ask the long-term locals how they feel about the whole area!! Only a couple of weeks ago stabbings and a local lad killed just off County Road.
The point I’m trying to make is things change; Walton has... and EFC need too... and a sterile environment is the what football has turned into. EFC are just trying to improve within their means, the only problem is their means are not that great so they have to lower ones expectations — it's not personal, it's just a matter of simple mathematics. Let's all go to Portugal and enjoy being an Evertonian!! COYB
If you never ever put another penny into Everton, Bill Kenwright wouldn't care, he doesn't know who you are and doesn't care.
So let me get this straight - Walton is rough and there was a murder there so, let’s move to.....KIRKBY!!?
I’ll leave that to just sit there (the gags are too easy so I’ll skip them).
nb: I have ALWAYS emphasised (read back what I have written) that any name-change is ’possible’ (WHICH IT IS!) NOT probable, NOT definite, NOT a certainty. (Anyone who says it is NOT possible, is full of shite or works for Bill)
Robert James - two things.
1) I live in Dublin
2) It is not about where Evertonians are from; it is about where EVERTON are from.
Seriously, Is that why you can’t actually understand what is being said?
I’ll give you an example.
In my response (above) I said "I live in Dublin".
Your response?
"If your from Dublin...."
Well (apart from the fact that should be "you’re") I didn’t say I’m FROM Dublin.
I said I LIVE in Dublin.
There’s a difference.
Also, AFTER I’d posted this...
"2) It is not about where Evertonians are from, it is about where EVERTON are from". You ask me "does it matter as it’s the same distance for you".
FFS, there are Goldfish with more... SIGH! etc
And Bill does not give a shit if you support someone else, you are just a number on a ticket.
So the sooner we move the better so the people who are not going to support Everton anymore can go away and support their local teams.
COYB (wherever you play).
(I suddenly feel rotten, something tells me I might have been sarcastic to a lad who is... um... how do I put this... erm... ’very familiar with wax crayons’)
I can't see it happening; like any businessman in it for himself, we will see BK cut his losses and step aside (to whom I don't know).
If it does go through, it's time for protest and the only way that will work is don't renew your season tickets... hence drop out of the Premier League and then work our way back up. Tough times for us blues but we will survive.
The strangest thing is, they didn’t go down in price when Bill took over and bought his shares at the incredibly low price of £857. And they haven’t risen in recent years, despite the booming cachet of the Premier League. How do you explain that, then?
As for the relatively static share value, I can only wonder whether the steady growth in our debt & the sale of club assets has effectively counterbalanced positive factors that may otherwise have driven the share value up.
Just as we didn’t need a crystal ball to predict that what you voted for didn’t exist, we certainly don’t need one now to foresee the multiple pitfalls of the Kirkby debacle after it has been repeatedly exposed for what it is: Not a world class stadium, not a stadium for nothing, not even the most accessible stadium in Merseyside nevermind the UK..... A lie from start to finish!
Tom can you scroll up to have a look at my comments on rerouting Walton Lane to shift the GP footprint towards Stanley Park and offer a comment? I think is a cheap, viable option (that would be supported by the council) to allow enough room to redevelop GP into a 65, 000 stadium and undercuts the arguement that GP is landlocked. What is your view?
I think the club made enquiries to the council about similar when Johnson was in charge. Not sure if that was to increase parking rather than actual stadium extension. I think the issue with this end of the park is that it is considered the more important or historic part with more interesting features, not least the lake and the well established tree-lined periphery, which makes it a completely different proposition to the mainly featureless Anfield end, so think there would still be issues.
It is true however that the site can yield at least the same capacity as Kirkby with little loss of houses, and in any,case people should remember that DK threatens many more houses, a retirement home and a school. None of which have ever had a stadium on their doorstep before now.
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Posted 08/10/2009 at 17:21:19
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That’s why I think we owe it to them, to make sure that if we do fail to prevent Everton moving, then at least we can try and give them a better stadium. (And no, a good stadium does not have to be costly.)
I thought I had it bad as a kid in the 70s, well imagine how bad it will be for those little buggers currently too young to understand this move?
So come on, let’s all put a bit of pressure on Everton to give us a better stadium.